


Butter-side Down

by EvilMuffins



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Cooking, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-Canon, Puppies, Yuletide 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-06 02:04:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5398769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinji tended to be the type of guy whose toast would always fall butter-side down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butter-side Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aurons_fan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/gifts).



Akihiko scanned the modest crowd seated in the gym bleachers- mostly overly enthusiastic mothers, scattered with little clusters of vaguely uninterested girlfriends there and about.

Though Mitsuru’s red hair stood out among them, a single rose in the garden, Aki nearly missed her among the other spectators. He had been expecting to see Shinji’s brunette mop sticking up beside her, the prickly chestnut fallen into the garden patch, but the adjacent seat was instead occupied by a cheerful grandmother waving a sign reading _‘Go get’em Taro!’_.

Mitsuru flashed a brief smile of encouragement before Akihiko turned his attention back toward his opponent. Just in time, as the starting bell rang.

Akihiko felt his stomach sink as he threw his first punch; it felt as if his glove had been suddenly gripped by the Shadows. He switched to a defensive stance as he attempted to conjure back the image of the faith in him he saw dancing in Mitsuru’s eyes, pushing his gloves to strike as smoothly as Mitsuru would wield her streamlined rapier. He couldn’t afford to dwell on what might have kept Shinji from showing up to the match. He and Mitsuru could always fill him in afterward.

* * *

 

 As he exited the locker room, Akihiko for once found himself glad that his girlfriend wasn’t much of a hugger. She was always so immaculate, the thought of his sweat rubbing off on her gave him a pang of guilt… and something that he needed put out of his mind immediately or something of a situation might arise.

“Shinjiro?” she asked, noticing Akihiko’s expression, the same one he usually had when he had misplaced his boxing gloves. “He probably stopped to pet a dog along the way.”

The two walked back to the dorm in comfortable silence, all the while Mitsuru wondering herself just what _had_ happened to her other boyfriend.

The last she had seen of him, he had been finishing up watching a cooking program. He had assured her that he just wanted to see how this one particular recipe came out, and that she should get a head start without him,  maybe hold a seat.

It was a chilly evening, the stars just beginning to peek out of their dusky blankets. It was one of those moments that had been becoming more and more rare these days, one in which Akihiko and Mitsuru felt more like normal teenagers rather than SEES members.

Akihiko walked carrying his jacket, saying how he had gotten too warm during the match. It was true, Mitsuru could feel his warmth radiating as she walked with her shoulder pressed up against him.

Once they arrived back at the dorm, Mitsuru let out a sigh. There was so still no sign of Shinji. Though it was beginning to get late in evening, the Dark Hour was still a long way off. She was certain that Shinjiro that was fine; he could take care of himself better than anyone. Still, she wished that he could have witnessed Akihiko’s victory. He had made it to Mitsuru’s fencing match the previous week, so why would he have disappeared tonight?

She would just have to congratulate Aki enough for the both of them.

“You did a great job,” Mitsuru said, pecking Akihiko on the cheek.

At that moment, the front door creaked open as Shinji walked in, grocery bag in hand. “I’ll take it you won?”

“Shinji! Where were you?” Akihiko asked in relief.

The other boy looked away sheepishly.

“Don’t tell me you were actually petting dogs again,” Mitsuru asked incredulously.

“Not…the entire time,” he replied, still studying an area on the tile floor.

Shinji went on to explain that he had just been trying to finish watching the cooking show (the chef had been working on a chocolate sour cream cake that you could practically smell through the screen), but when the next episode started, he had to stick around for the beginning of that one too. It had been about post-game snacks, likely targeted toward soccer-moms.

Up until then, had been more focused on taste over nutrition (he only cooked as a hobby, something to help him relax, after all), but the program was like a revelation to the amateur cook- apparently you _could_ have both.

Suddenly the cookies he gotten up early to make and then set aside for Aki to have after the match seemed horribly inadequate.

He had glanced at the clock- if he were to start making something fresh right at that moment, he would likely only miss the first match between some students he didn’t know, and still be in time to witness Aki’s certain victory.

Shinji whipped up a protein-rich bento, featuring a golden yellow, pillow-soft tamagoyaki as the star attraction. Never before had there been a more perfect post-match snack.

Shinjiro wasn’t often one to toot his own horn, but at that moment he was almost certain that given the choice between his boxing trophy, Aki would say that having a boyfriend like Shinji was the real prize. …Or maybe not. If he were to use a food-related metaphor, Shinji tended to be the type of guy whose toast would always fall butter-side down. Still, despite his flight of fancy, just seeing Akihiko enjoy his cooking would be worth anything.

So he set out, walking briskly toward the school, lunch bag in hand.

Then he saw it- a tiny little white dog wandering down the sidewalk, alone in the dark, though it wore a shiny red collar.

It came over as soon as Shinji called to it, trotting over merrily. Clearly, the creature had thought that it made its first companion on what it clearly thought to be a grand adventure.

“Are you hungry, little guy?” Shinji had asked, noticing the dog pawing at his bag of food.

One piece of food turned into another, followed by another, until finally, to Shinji’s dismay, the bento box was completely empty.

By this time, a rather distraught woman came jogging down the street, looking side to side until her eyes lit up at the sight of Shinji holding the dog... That is, until she noticed that this sketchy-looking teen was in the process of stuffing the dog inside his jacket.

Eventually, however, Shinji was able to explain that he had only been trying to keep it warm, and finally the woman thanked him profusely, leaving him with a few dollars as a reward.

By this time, however, the match was surely over. Instead, Shinji picked stopped by the conbini to stock up some fresh ingredients on the way home in a feeble attempt to offset his guilt.

* * *

 

“So you gave the entire power-bento to the dog...before getting mistaken for dog-napping?” Akihiko snickered.

“I’ll make you a new one, so just chill on the couch for an hour or something,” Shinji muttered.

Akihiko, however, gathered him up in a bear hug. “Stop being so thoughtful, Shinji!”

“I’ll cook something,” Mitsuru suggested. “Shinji, you’ve already done more than enough.”

Akihiko, however, knew better than anyone how restless Shinji could get when asked to take it easy. Releasing him from the hug, he offered, “Why don’t you teach us how?”

Shinjiro’s two dorm-mates proved decently competent in the kitchen, following his directions more or less, though Mitsuru tended to add a few extra flourishes here and there when she thought Shinji wasn’t looking.

“How’d you do?” Shinji asked, coming up behind Aki to inspect the bowl he stirred vigorously.

“You tell me,” Akihiko said, turning to shove a spoonful into the other boy’s mouth.

Shinji tasted it thoughtfully, making no effort to remove the spoon.

The corner of Mitsuru's mouth turned up wickedly. “Hey, you two. Maybe I want a taste.”

She gently guided the spoon away from Shinji’s mouth, replacing it with her own soft lips instead.

“So, what do you think?” Aki asked as casually as he could manage.

“Satisfactory,” she said with a lady-like smirk, after releasing Shinji and licking her lips.

It was during times like these that Shinji began to think that sometimes maybe, just maybe, that buttered toast of his never even fell at all.

 


End file.
